"Inner Space Infirmary"

Profound Lore

Artists:

Can Wold be pretty? That’s the thought that continues to emerge and vanish throughout “Inner Space Infirmary,” the second cut on Postsocial, the forthcoming album from the willfully enigmatic noise act. Wold are known for sustained rampages, with sheets of static and clipped vocals forming dense husks around melodies and rhythms that you can just begin to detect through the squall. That remains the basic model for “Inner Space Infirmary,” a 10-minute sustain of foregrounded harshness, where tiny themes slip though the veil like ghosts. (At one point, you might even fancy that there’s a symphony beneath all these electronics.)

But there are moments here where the busted tones begin to sit still, and the abrasion becomes somehow calm. The onslaught simply morphs into something else to which you adjust, a maximalist core around a meditative middle. Those moments never really last long, though, as they’re always broken by the mangled yell of Wold leader Fortess Crookedjaw. Still, “Inner Space Infirmary” offers a striking rejoinder that Wold’s only intention is to shock listeners into submission. Here, strangely enough, they woo. Postsocial is out via Profound Lore on April 29.